My mate is thinking about a £600 1986 twin lamp Tenere to join me on a bike trip to climb Jebel Toubkal in the Atlas next April.

It's done 75000 miles- is this OK? How many miles can these things do? The only new part we know of is the clutch.

£600 is very cheap. But be careful as the 1986 tenere didn't have twin headlights. And 75miles is quite a lot.

Two things:

1).a bike an XT600 with 75mile on it is likely to have a gear box problem (see all the threads on this board about 5th gear pitting)
2). I'd look it over carefully as it sounds like a bit of a mish mash. Check the frame and engine numbers and see if they match.

good luck,


Simon

Correction !

Actually 1986 was a changeover year I think. So the bike you talk about maybe correct. If the frame number starts 3AJ (followed by a series of numbers) then it was originally fitted with twin lamps. Made a mistake earlier.

So all there is to worry about really is the 5th gear problems and a bloody good service.

Simon

The following link gives a good overview of the Tenere changes. http://www.tenere.ch/english/etenerestory.html There are slight differences, such as the 3AJ did not arrive in the UK until 1989, I believe. And I have seen some imports from Italy that look very similar/same to my 3AJ (electric start only & rear disc brake), but have the single square headlight and clocks - I did not look to see the chassis/engine code. I assumed there must have been an interim model between the 1VJ and 3AJ, as I have seen a couple of these being offered by a local shop.

The single headlamp model with electric-only start, rear disk & frame mounted fairing is probably a 3DS, produced for Switzerland and a couple of other countries. It has some differences in the carbs but is otherwise (as far as I know) identical to the 3AJ.

FWIW there was also a 3DE produced for Aus, NZ & South Africa.

John,
Interesting. Thanks for that.
I have seen mention of a Mk.1 & Mk.2 3AJ. Would you know the differences between them? (I saw reference to 15cm & 30cm oil coolers).
Thanks, Geoff

Excellent info- thanks. Huge mistake though- it was actually a 1988 (sorry).

Reliability is the main concern so we're still worried about the massive mileage. But it's in fairly good condition otherwise.

Seller actually wants 900GBP and rejected our offer of 600GBP...

If it's a 3AJ all I can tell you is that I bought a 1990 (twin headlight)with 50,000 on the clock and did a top end rebuild ( cam followers,piston&rings,camchain,valvesprings and other odds'n'sods)cos they need it at around that mileage.Since I got it(18 months ago)I've used a good quality oil and ZX1 Extralube,it's now got 85000 on it and everything is fine,only had to adjust the tappets one too!.
The only problem I have had(twice)is the nut on the gearbox sprocket comes off,so locktite it on.

Hi Geoffe
Mk1&Mk2 3AJ-- short&long oil coolers--
Thats it really.
David Lambeth.